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Seattle to Reno

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dsm363

Roadster + Sig Model S
Moderator
May 17, 2009
19,146
882
Nevada
Has anyone made this road trip? Looks like Superchargers the entire way. My main question is if it's ok to leave 21"rims and summer tires on for doing a trip like this in Sept. Don't think I'll get into any snow or ice on the way. Thanks.
 
Has anyone made this road trip? Looks like Superchargers the entire way. My main question is if it's ok to leave 21"rims and summer tires on for doing a trip like this in Sept. Don't think I'll get into any snow or ice on the way. Thanks.

I've gone both directions, and it shouldn't be a problem this time of year. I haven't gone through Seattle, but came from eastern Washington to Ellensburg to Centralia. Coming back, I've even made it directly from Reno to Mt. Shasta. This was last April just before Good Friday. Check EV Trip Planner, as it will probably take more energy going from Mt. Shasta to Reno. I'm assuming you have the 85kWh pack. If you go slow enough you'll still make it in much less time than going through Corning, and Folsom or Truckee. Folsom to Reno directly is fairly easy if you don't speed, but if you find you're using up range too quickly, you can always stop in Truckee. Charging at Folsom and driving to Reno let me arrive at Reno with ~100 miles left. I don't remember how fast I was traveling, but I'm sure you can make it directly from Folsom to Reno if you take it easy, and it would still take less time than stopping in Truckee.
 
Thanks. I was planning on stopping in Truckee but if I can make it without that's great too. Will check it out. I do have the 85kWh pack.

Ok so you'd recommend stopping at Folsom and then going straight to Reno. It looks like I pass through Truckee anyway so I'll probably stop since I might not have charging in Reno. I'll see if I can find a hotel with charging in Reno.

Found this older thread:
Folsom SC and Reno
 
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IFolsom to Reno directly is fairly easy if you don't speed, but if you find you're using up range too quickly, you can always stop in Truckee. Charging at Folsom and driving to Reno let me arrive at Reno with ~100 miles left. I don't remember how fast I was traveling, but I'm sure you can make it directly from Folsom to Reno if you take it easy, and it would still take less time than stopping in Truckee.

I think you mean charge at Roseville on Hwy 80 on the way to Reno, not charge at Folsom on Hwy 50 which goes to South Lake Tahoe.
 
Going from north to south, you gain about 1000 or so feet of elevation. I drove from Mt. Shasta to Grass Valley along SR89, SR44, the same highways that you would take to reach Reno via Susanville. The journey southeast out of Mt. Shasta City to Susanville involves a gradual elevation increase of around 2,000 feet if I recall. You summit somewhere along SR44 before it joins SR36 about 10 miles west of Susanville. From Susanville to Reno is slightly downhill and straight.

I believe that there is an RV Park just east of Susanville that might serve you well for a brief top-off if you have any doubts about reaching Reno.

Detouring to Truckee takes more range and is longer that just driving straight through to Reno from Susanville. You would have to drive through Quincy and then down SR89 to Truckee.

I drove 58 MPH (limits varied from 55-65) on 89 and 44 and had more estimated range than what appeared on the slider, so I never had any range worries!
 
I had a business trip in Lake Tahoe in July. I researched the drive, though ultimately decided to fly to Reno. The I-5 corridor is easy thanks to superchargers. I wanted to avoid Sacramento; as I recall, the trip planner said that I could use the supercharger in Corning CA, then drive all the way to Lake Tahoe with an 85kWh battery.
 
I had a business trip in Lake Tahoe in July. I researched the drive, though ultimately decided to fly to Reno. The I-5 corridor is easy thanks to superchargers. I wanted to avoid Sacramento; as I recall, the trip planner said that I could use the supercharger in Corning CA, then drive all the way to Lake Tahoe with an 85kWh battery.

Because of reduced charge rate in the taper, and sometimes having to drive more slowly, it is often faster to stop at a Supercharger than to skip it. It can take half or more of the total charge time to get that last 20% of charge! It's far quicker to charge to 200 rated miles or less at each Supercharger, if you can comfortably make it to the next Supercharger.
 
Cottonwood makes a valid point. But the easy, faster driving to Corning and then along two-lane roads to I80 via Yuba City/Marysville and Grass Valley/Nevada City will be about 300 miles which equates to approximately 5 hours of driving plus charge times. You have about 8 miles of traffic signals in Yuba City/Marysville at 30MPH.

The direct route is only about 220 miles and maybe 3:45 drive time at prevailing speeds, so a lower speed might add 45 minutes. And it is a much prettier drive than Interstate 5, SR99 and Interstate 80.

It is likely a toss-up if you stop to charge in Susanville for 45 minutes to top off.
 
Cottonwood makes a valid point. But the easy, faster driving to Corning and then along two-lane roads to I80 via Yuba City/Marysville and Grass Valley/Nevada City will be about 300 miles which equates to approximately 5 hours of driving plus charge times. You have about 8 miles of traffic signals in Yuba City/Marysville at 30MPH.

The direct route is only about 220 miles and maybe 3:45 drive time at prevailing speeds, so a lower speed might add 45 minutes. And it is a much prettier drive than Interstate 5, SR99 and Interstate 80.

It is likely a toss-up if you stop to charge in Susanville for 45 minutes to top off.

Thanks. So sounds like Superchargers all the way down on I5 to Corning, CA then I80 through Yuma. It looks like you also drive right through Truckee Supercharger too. Shouldn't be a problem.
 
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DSM,

You are slightly mistaken on the route. I am assuming that you would prefer to utilize Superchargers the entire journey. When you leave Corning, you take South Avenue, a county road, east to SR99, north of Chico. South of Chico you have a choice to take SR149 to SR70 through Oroville and onto Marysville, or you can stay on SR99 to Yuba City (not Yuma, which is in Arizona,) and then east on SR20. Highways 70 and 20 intersect in downtown Marysville. Then you continue eastward into the Sierra foothills to Grass Valley and follow SR20 east of Nevada City to its terminus on Interstate 80, about 20 miles west of Truckee.

If you wanted to drive interstate highways the entire route, then you would drive to the northern suburbs of Sacramento on Interstate 5, then head eastward on Interstate 80. The Roseville Supercharger is about 25 miles or so from this junction. This is also a longer route, and depending on your time of day could have some serious traffic congestion.

If you got out one of those old-fashioned, paper-type maps to explore the layouts of the highways, my explanations might make a little more sense.
 
Thanks. Hadn't had time to sit down and map it out yet so very helpful. I'd like to take Superchagers for most of the way but if the last few hundred miles have decent charging (found a few nice people making their HPWCs available) that is scenic then that'd be great too.
 
Thanks. Hadn't had time to sit down and map it out yet so very helpful. I'd like to take Superchagers for most of the way but if the last few hundred miles have decent charging (found a few nice people making their HPWCs available) that is scenic then that'd be great too.

You can do Corning to Truckee with no additional charging between Superchargers.
 
You can do Corning to Truckee with no additional charging between Superchargers.

Yep. You should be able to go the speed limit and only use about 72 kWh. That's averaging 66 mph. To play safe, drop 10-15 miles below the speed limit. Donner summit is about 7000 ft elevation, Truckee (after the summit) is about 5500 ft above Corning.
Going faster would only save you about 15 minutes. BTW, I was being very conservative with EV Trip Planner, using outsite temp of 20 F and inside temp of 72 F.
 
Thanks. I think sticking to I5 to Corning, CA Supercharger then highway A9 to highway 99 through Chico the north of Yuma City then Nevada City and Truckee to Reno is the way I'll go. Maybe not the shortest but stays near Superchargers the longest. Thanks again.

Reno route.png
 
I did the scenic route from Corning to Truckee the first day Truckee was opened and used 60kW. More details here Truckee Supercharger | Tesla Owner

What is considered the scenic route? A Google map screen capture like above would be awesome or simply describing the route taken of course. Didn't see it listed in your blog post.

Ah, never mind. I see the comments section below your post from curtis on August 29, 2014
at 10:57 am
Then I take it you drove from Corning via SR 20 through Yuba City/Marysville and then along that 6-mile freeway between Grass Valley and Nevada City and then on SR 20 to its terminus at I80 about 25 miles west of Truckee?